Tuesday, December 30, 2014

When asked most would describe their dream destination country as France, Italy, Switzerland, Thailand, Maldives and so on. However, your truly is different, and dreams to go to Australia at the very least once in her lifetime.

Perhaps luck or whatever you may call it. I was waiting for a chance to talk about Australia and there you go; I spot this post on IndiBlogger which asks 'What's your reason for falling in love with Melbourne, the most livable city in the world?' No sooner than I read it, I started jumping up and down, in my head.Now let me tell you 10 reasons why I'd love to visit Melbourne, Australia

I would love to witness The12 Apostles via a helicopter at sunrise and sunset as they change colour from dark and foreboding in shadow to a brilliant sandy yellow under the full sun

2. Who wouldn't want to break away from the populous concrete jungle that we live in and break free to visit the lush green Dandenong ranges. From the blooms of the National Rhododendron Gardens to the whispering forests in the Dandenong Ranges National Park.

3. Rising and floating in the skies as early as sunshine in a hot air balloon ride in Yarra Valley overlooking the wine fields before sampling the local produce and the sparkling nectar for breakfast later. Later a camp in Kinglake National park is on the cards.

4. Walking along the Great ocean walk - the hiker’s equivalent of the world famous Great Ocean Drive- 102 km starting from Apollo bay and ending at Princetown. Will not forget to visit the Cape Otway Lightstation - the oldest, surviving lighthouse in mainland Australia.

5. Like a true Melburnian indulging in the good food in the city's iconic eating joints

6. MasterChef Australia is returning to Melbourne!

7. Breath in the scenic view of the Melbourne via the extended glass box on Eureka Skydeck 88. Just the thought of being suspended in mid air -in 'The Edge' at 285 metres in the Southern Hemisphere with nothing but glass to hold you -is simply exhilarating! Look ma, no floor!

8. Who leaves Melbourne without visiting a beach. The Loch and Gorge Beach.

9. Watching penguins and other critters at Phillip island on a boat cruise

10. Witness the ICC Cricket World cup 2015 game at the World famous Melbourne Cricket Ground the MCG. Woohaah!

Now that you've read my thoughts, I have a #contest for you:

Just tell me "Which of these places would you want to visit in Melbourne and why?"

Drop your answers in the comments section of this post.

The best answer will be chosen by me on every valid entry will win a gift voucher!

This is my first book review of the book by the renowned Ravi Subramanian. 'God is a Gamer' is his latest offering after the best selling series of books namely 'If God Was a Banker', 'Bankster'. If you jump at the mention of gaming, bitcoins, cyber laws, the deep dark mysteries of the internet as a whole, this book is for you and you are bound to like it.

Book cover: Bitcoin and the White House can be clearly understood. Nice artwork.

Here is the short brief, without giving away the climax of course.
The action takes place in current times in various major cities across the world. Cities like Washington DC, New York, Mumbai, Goa are featured in the story. A gaming company run by Aditya is struggling to find ground among competition. Varun, Aditya's estranged son suddenly emerges to help his dad in his business. LTTE spreads terror in the US and FBI is called to the action. An serial ATM heist ensures FBI agents are led on a wild goose chase. Suspected murders of key people – a US Senator, high prolific banker and more - take place; some linked to each other, some not. However, there is more that meets the eye in the world of the internet – it's dark side. Finding the tiniest bread crumb of evidence in the depths of the dark web is nothing short of finding a needle in the proverbial haystack.

The plot thickens with twists and turns at all the right places. The characters of the story come together beautifully in one seamless plot. The author has left no stone unturned to make it a page-turner. Made me even Google some of the facts and my, was I surprised !

Pluses: The author has well researched some facts and events and woven it beautifully into the plot. Some events coinciding with recent events that happened of late.

Minus: Initally, the pace of the story is slow but picks up later. Also, introduction of many characters at a time can make it difficult to keep track. Few chapters before the end, you can somewhat accurately guess the mastermind behind the killings, but perhaps not the reason behind it. The reason behind has a backstory.

Would I recommend it? Yes ! Must read.

Overall this is a pacy thriller with all the elements of romantic past, scandal, revenge, terror, drugs, sex and money. God is a Gamer is an engaging story with page turning short chapters. Would love to also read and review the other books in the series written. Mr. Ravi Subramanian, you've got a fan !

“Look here now, I need to talk to him!” Dr
Sneha Phadnis cut her short and spoke loudly but with desperation in her voice.

“Madam, madam please have a seat. I’ll be
right back” said Veda as she left the reception, trying to get help from
another nurse to handle the situation.

Reluctantly, Dr. Sneha sat in one of the
sofas near the counter. She pondered her next step to trace Aryan Ahuja. Within
moments, another nurse walked in balancing stack full of folders and files in
both hands.

She placed some files on the counter and
said, “These are Dr. Ahuja’s cases. File it inside.” She was too busy to pay
attention at the unmanned reception counter.

Dr. Sneha noticed the nurse leaving the
files on the counter. She stared at the files and wondered if they have Aryan
Ahuja’s contact details. She felt tempted to see those files and carefully
unlatched one of them. On the top corner of the letterhead she noticed the
Cloud 9 hospital address and below it she saw another address. ‘Aryan Ahuja
must be running a consultation clinic from another address as well.’ She
thought and smiled when she spotted the apartment number in the address. ‘What
Luck!’ It was indeed Dr Aryan Ahuja’s home address.

Acting swiftly, she plopped out her phone
and clicked a photo of the address. Wasting no more time, she placed the file
back onto the counter and rushed out. The fatigue of the traveling, the drama
was now replaced with excitement and anxiousness. There was a spring in every
step she took as she dashed out of the hospital. Beaming with new sense of
excitement she hailed a cab and headed off to complete what was missing in her
life.

_______

Meanwhile the receptionist returned to her
desk to find Dr Sneha Phadnis gone.

“Madam? Madam!” She looked around the
place, inside the consultation room, the corridor- but Dr Sneha was nowhere to
be found. “Oh God” exclaimed a panicked Veda.

_______

Seated in the cab, Dr. Sneha was now lost in
thought. She reminisced her long dates with Aryan back in medical school. There
they perched in the campus canteen sipping on cinnamon tea and chatted
endlessly which would melt away all their daily fatigue. She still remembered
his smile, one that reached his eyes. His eyes, sparkling with intellect.
Despite the hectic med school schedule, they talked, and when they did, hours
seemed like minutes.

'Have I caught thee, my heavenly jewel?

Why, now letme die, for I have lived long enough’

She had blushed to a shade of crimson as he quoted Shakespeare to her looking into her eyes, after they had made love on one such night. Days passed and nights passed. And then came one such day where he quoted Shakespeare again:

‘This bud of love, by summer's ripening breath,

May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet.’

Aryan had quoted as they parted ways after medical school. And how Sneha's eyes showed exasperation when he said he was not ready to commit and that she was not ready to ask him to. It seemed like a professional decision, her choosing Psychiatry while him choosing Paediatrics as a specialization. But back then Sneha did not realize how bitter the end would seem in the following years.

Over the years she had learned to live with the tinge of regret of what could have been with the love of her life. She pondered over the fact of him getting married and settling down to someone else. There was always a chance that he wouldn't. What would his reaction be? How would he look? Why didn't he try to find her? Oh, never did a day go by she wished he would tap on her shoulder and say-

“Madam! Madam, aapka building aa gaya!”

The cab driver’s yell shook Dr Sneha from
her reverie and she was brought back to her present. She paid the cab fare and
stepped outside. She composed herself and became conscious of how she was
dressed. She adjusted her kurta, smoothed her hair and checked her compact
mirror for her mascara. Pressing her flame like bindi in place on her forehead
with one hand she pressed 9 with the other and Beethoven’s Für Elise filled the
elevator. Seconds later, she was going to be outside Dr. Aryan Ahuja’s
residence.

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Imagine being in the same room as the trend makers, influencers, twitterati, bloggerati of the Indian Social Media universe. Thanks to BlogAdda.com I grabbed this opportunity with open arms at the Social Media Week 2014 in Mumbai. The Social Media Week (#SMWMumbai) was held simultaneously in 11 cities, 9 countries, 1000 events and 3000 speakers. It was indeed surreal meeting and greeting the faces behind the twitter handles you follow. And even better to be greeting, rubbing shoulders with bloggers like oneself and the bloggerati you once wished to have a tete-a-tete with.

The SMWMumbai was held from 22nd to 26th September 2014 this time at Novotel, Juhu. Let me tell you the hotel location is just fabulous with the waters of Juhu beach beckoning you to come and take a stroll on the sands. Having missed the first 3 days, I made sure I wouldn't miss the days to come. However, due to holiday constraints, I could only attend the session on Thursday, 25th September.

There were 4 stages where events were taking place simultaneously. The Pioneer stage, Social Community stage, the Learning stage and the Media & Entertainment stage.

I reached the venue well before time and was greeted with sumptuous breakfast buffet. Hot steaming mug of cappuchino and soft mini donuts and cinnamon puffs beckoned me. I then proceeded towards the Social Community stage to attend Ansoo Gupta's presentation on 'Using Social Media to Enhance your travel'. Ansoo Gupta, COO Pinstorm presented the topic effortlessly highlighting when to rely on social media for deals/discounts and when to turn it off. The presentation simply enchanted me only with the sole reason : how to travel solo. It was also awesome meeting Rutavi Mehtaof Photokatha who was hosting the session. A group photograph and we went on to the next session.

The following session was Speed Blogging and Tweetathon hosted and conducted by Yellow Seed Solutions. Yours truly was super excited and geared up with laptop in tow. Wi-fi connected and all set for the fingers tapping away against the laptop's keyboard and cellphone's touchscreen. 6 minutes to blog and 1 minute to tweet impromptu on topics ranging from 'Digi Soul', 'Alia' and 'Curves and kisses' to 'Mai ye shaadi nahi karoongi' and 'Ye vada pav sir mera hai'. It was nice to see your tweets being retweeted and favourited in real time. First half of the day ended so with a break for lunch with time to network.

Well fed and watered I headed to the Learning Stage where live workshops or Masterclass were taking place. Joined halfway into the Masterclass for 'DoubleClick Digital Marketing Secrets: More Insights, Better Decision Making' conducted by Ram Mohan Pai, Lead- Digital Operations Quality, Accenture – Media Technology operations for Google. Then stayed on for the Masterclass hosted and conducted by Digital Vidya on 'Social Media for Lead Generation and Sales'. Digital Vidya's Pradeep Chopra elucidated on the topic with good case studies on lead generation via various social media platforms. He described his own experience through examples of Hippo's engagement on Twitter, damage control and customer service by Ola Cabs. He cited other examples of usage of QR code on Guinness' Cup (pure genius idea) and tweet to order idea by Faaso's.

During tea/ coffee break, I then headed to the concluding minutes of Ashwath Ganesh's presentation on 'Life after Facebook Zero' – a whitepaper published by Social@OglivyDuring tea/ coffee break, I then headed to the concluding minutes of Ashwath Ganesh's presentation on 'Life after Facebook Zero' – a whitepaper published by Social@Oglivy.
Next up was 'Face Off with Anaggh Desai – So you think you can be an Influencer'. This was a panel discussion with social media heavyweights like Deepali Nair -CMO Club Mahindra Holidays, Rushina Munshaw Ghildiyal – Blogger and Founder APB Cookstudio, Kiran Manral – Author of Once upon a crush,Rohan Joshi Writer and Stand-up comedian, Dharmesh Gandhi – Content Strategist for many Star channels and Jaydeep Shetty – Founder, Mineral. This session was good rollicking fun breaking the formal presentation code. Anaggh Desai moderated this fun discussion.

The panel discussion ended a few minutes past 5, and I was spoiled for choice between attending the subsequent sessions 'Stand-Up Comedy in India: Online Viral, Offline Housefull” featuring stand-up comedians Ashish Shakya, Tanmay Bhat, Aditi Mittal and Rohan Joshi versus Fireside Chat with Rajkumar Hirani versus 'Social Bollywood- Where Hollywood meets Bollywood' featuring Malini Agarwal Blogger-in-Chief of MissMalini.com versus Jeff Bullas' MasterClass on 'The 8 steps to becoming a World Class Blogger for Business and Revenue' on a G+ hangout from Australia. Such multiple action packed sessions lined up for the evening. I wish I could attend ALL of them. Decisions, decisions.

I choseJeff Bullas' MasterClass session for the genuine and simple learnings from the master himself. Pure 90 minutes of enriching session on how blogging can be leveraged for business with clear goals and focus.

Overall the entire event was conducted smoothly and synchronously and it was a delight to be a part of the Social Media Week 2014 in Mumbai.

Friday, September 26, 2014

This is the thirteenth part of the short story that I am writing in collaboration with other bloggers on Blogadda. Our team is 'Tete-a-ten'. You can read the previous parts here: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, and twelve.

As Fanus and Dr Sneha entered Cyrus' room, he stood motionless for a while as he threw his gaze across the room. That room was where his Cyrus, his love, spent most of his time.

Dr Sneha and Fanus frantically searched across the room. Fanus booted Cyrus' laptop. It prompted a password. Fanus entered random numbers, alphabets but no could not get access. They upturned the pillows, bed covers, rummaged through the drawers, looked under Cyrus' bed- but found nothing. Cyrus' parents rushed upstairs to the cacophony created by the frantic search. “Arre! Dikra! “ yelled Mr Daruwalla. “What are you doing?” As they reached upstairs, Mrs Daruwalla expression read shock. She was very particular of keeping things in its place and neat and clean as possible. “Uncle, Aunty we need to search for something important!” Fanus tried to explain her calmly but instead raised his voice. After which he realised he should have refrained himself.

“Don't talk to my wife like that dikra!! First you barge in my home and then you talk to my wife this way” There was a anger and sadness in his tone.

Defeated Mr Daruwalla said “Come dear, our prayers can only get our Cryus back.” They left the room with anxiety on Mr Daruwalla's face.

After a good hour searching Cyrus' room and yielding nothing, Fanus and Dr. Sneha are about to give up hope in finding a clue; any clue understanding where Cryus disappeared. Dr.Sneha reclines on the beanbag in corner of the room and looks at Amitabh Bachchan poster near the study table.

The poster was from Amitabh Bachchan's Deewar movie. The iconic 1975 bollywood movie had Amitabh striking a pose in a red shirt and blue trousers.

“I really liked the movie. Each and every bollywood movie for that matter. 3 and a half hours of pure masala magic. And this poster is what I gifted to Cyrus. He absolutely loved this movie. Typical angry young man Amitabh.”

It was no secret Fanus and Cyrus shared their love for movies.

“This was a blockbuster. I think it won a Filmfare. Their dialogue “Mere paas Maa hai” was iconic.” reminisced Dr Sneha Phadnis.

She continued “Cyrus loved Amitabh's movies. He once went on talking about dearth of good actors in Bollywood. He was of the opinion that Amitabh Bachchan was vastly under utilized as an actor.”

'Wait a minute” It dawned upon her. “Cyrus had this blog on movies, right?” she said rhetorically as she got up from the bean bag chair.

“Why Yes!” Fanus smacked himself as to why it didnt occur to him earlier. “Cyrus even maintained a blog called 'MovieRus by Cyrus' which was about movie reviews. Cyrus would blog about how he would remake the same movies differently.

Fanus rushed and grabbed his phone and logged onto google.com. He google MovieRus by Cyrus and clicked the link.

He continued “It was a brilliant idea. He was a big fan of Bachchan. Why, he even had a special section dedicated for only Amitabh movies.” Fanus clicked on the tab for 'BigB : Real Badshaah of Bollywood'

Fanus and Dr. Sneha Phadnis skimmed through the blog. Cyrus had maintained it immaculately and designed it with bright colours akin to a Bollywood movie poster.Cryus' passion for the starry life of Bollywood displayed in the way he talked about movies. He was passionate about it. His passion for bollywood dripped with every word he spoke on BigB's movies. He had a well researched opinion on Bollywood. Why, he even had penned original storylines for movies. Though those were not to be seen by all on the blog, but locked in his head. One would wonder why he took up the profession of law – in stark contrast to the colourful, glamourous and glitzy world of Bollywood.

Dr. Sneha had earlier pondered on the thought. Cyrus' should've gone to Film school instead of Law School.

“Cyrus once told me how boring law school was. He really wanted to go to film school and learn filmmaking. Once revealed his dream. His dream was, one day, to direct Amitabh in his own film. Director Cyrus Daruwalla.” she smiled as she said it.

There it was. The clue. Staring right at them. Dr Sneha said triumphantly “Could he have gone to Mumbai to meet Amitabh Bachchan?”

Fanus and Dr. Sneha look at each other, the triumphant look on their faces now fading to an anxious one. Mumbai. The city that never sleeps. Mayanagari.

Now Fanus is worried. Searching Cyrus in Delhi, is easier than searching him in Mumbai. An unknown city with unknown people.

“OK. If Cyrus is in Mumbai. “ gulped Fanus nervously. “How in the hell would we find him?” Fanus was starting to lose it. He was losing his composure and was now on the brink of paniking.

Sensing Fanus' tone, Dr Sneha spoke calmly “We will find Cyrus. We will. First, let's face it we need tell people Cyrus is lost. And we need help. So if they find anything about Cyrus they need to contact us as soon as possible.”

With a new sense of determination, Fanus said “ Let's put it up on social networking sites. Facebook, Twitter, his blog. Everywhere.”

Cyrus was taken aback by the voice. He then realised he was wandering aimlessly in the streets of Delhi. Delhi, the city he belonged to was now knowingly unknown.

He flags down an autorickshaw and mumbles “Dilli railway station chalo”. The ride was no longer than twenty minutes amidst heavy vehicular traffic.

Delhi's Nizamuddin station is packed at any time of the day. Cyrus reaches the Nizamuddin station with thoughts of fulfilling his dream to direct Amitabh.

As luck may have it, he hears the announcement for a Mumbai bound train ready to leave any minute. He rushed to the platform and boards the train in unreserved compartment of the train. Just making it in time as the train pulls away, Cryus' is reminded of the train scene of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge.

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

I cannot believe it has already been 5
years since myfirst ever Indiblogger meet. I can
distinctively remember it was 15th August 2009. This makes me
feel old now. Back then blogger meets were attended primarily focused
around
1. Free food
2. Freebies
3. As an excuse to nagging parents
forcing you to attend your uncle's nephew's neighbour's son's mundan
ceremony. Yours truly was no different and subsequently added to the
list was Free Wi-fi. (I sense techies nodding their heads in
agreement.)

So this was my probably my 5th blogger meet since I started blogging and I've been on and off. The Vodafone
McLaren Mercedes Lewis Hamilton meet is the last I attended and so was looking forward to
this meet. Location: The famous resto-pub The Blue Frog at Lower Parel and time of meet : 9 am. 9 am? Who goes to a fun blogger meet at 9 am?!
However I went and the early getting up bit was made up with a rocking concert
by the IndiBlogger band. Who would've thought a rock concert at 10ish
in the morning! Awesomesauce.

Now the real fact
this meet was more awesome – was I was gonna meet bloggers like me.
The only difference was they had made a cool living by blogging. Back
in 2008, when literally everyone had started blogging -yours truly
included- one never imagined it to be a full time profession. Why,
even the mere thought was incredulous. And then the boom of social
media happened and suddenly Content was King. The meet started with IndiBlogger's Anoop as the emcee followed by Vinit Goenka delivering the keynote peppered with diplomacy.

Speaking next was Amit Agarwal from labnol.org, who was blogging since 2004, like the Jurassic era of blogs advocated using wordpress.org over blogger.com.
His thoughts made a lot of sense as wordpress was more search engine
friendly and had more analytics features. He also spoke about never
giving away content for the lure of freebies.

Next up was the
literal YouthKiAwaazAnshul Tewari who relentless struggle and
belief in his socially aware idea catapulted during the Arab spring
of 2011. Cannot believe he does not have a single ad placed on his
website.

Varun Krishnan, the
founder of FoneArena.com gave an insight on monetization on blogging. He spoke about how important it is keep focus on the content while the money will follow.

Chai with Lakshmi Rebecca can give a KJo a run for his Koffee. Her tete-a-tete along with Sumit
Singh of Cleartrip, was refreshing. Lakshmi advised hiring your own
help for editing content for video blogging while Sumit gave due
importance to maintaining a clean, easy to navigate and responsive
template for Pcs, Tablets and mobile devices. Sensible. Harsh Agarwal of shoutmeloud.com highlighted more technical aspects of blogging with primary focus on
SEO. Who knew search engines can be picky!
Uber cool Sherezade Shroff
described her dislike for writing and love for fashion. She
reminisced her experience when a brand approached her to review
facewashes and rejected them outright because of her affinity to
Medimix soap. Story ninja and Tea sommelier Snighda Manchanda
narrated a sweet story of how she discovered her liking for Tasting
Teas and weaving wonderful stories. 'Ideas come and go, Stories Stay'
So true. Also, I truly liked her 7 basic story idea plots. CS Krishna highlighted their run in with the law for turning up the heat with
Mrs Gandhi and Mr Singh video. Their video got a million likes, but
the Sec 66A IT Act was breathing down their necks.

Overall the day long meet
was supercharged and even better that it ended on time with a bang. Like literally,
headbanging.